Saturday, March 24, 2007

Life, the Universe, and ALOT of stuff


Well, I haven't been keeping up with posting lately, not for lack of having something to say. I've been so busy with work, family, church and other things that I have been getting too little sleep for too long. I was at the point I could hardly keep a train of thought the other day for sheer exhaustion. Not every day has been like that. Last night was the first I got a normal amount of sleep in at least a week, and probably a bit longer than that.

Work has been hectic and it has kept me jumpin', getting up at 3AM, 4AM, 4:30AM and 5AM most mornings, and I've been getting home late as well. Sleep deprivation has left me a little draggin', a little less up & enthusiastic & happy, and a little more cranky lately - though not all the time. Especially as I was winding down.

Through it all I have kept on-track with low carb, and I have finally (barely) broken into 330-land. I weighted this morning at 339.2 lbs, so that is good. Also My bouncing (which is still happening) has flattened out a bit this past week. Dunno if that is due to sheer exhaustion or hitting Starbucks much more regularly for coffee and related (mostly low carb) caffine boosts. Anyhow it is nice not to have 10 lb variances in the weight for a change, but something less. There is no getting around my recent need for caffine in the quantities I was drinking it - it was a medical emergency (smile)!

My wonderful wife bought me the George Foreman Grill I asked for recently and she got the large family sized unit I wanted so we could load it with fish, chicken, burgers or whatever. I tried first thing cooking a ribeye steak in it, and it was a pretty disapointing experience. The ribeye was one of these thin cuts to start with, and it got flattened out and drained of juices and the experience was something like eating something between shoe leather and maybe beef jerky. I believe that these steaks need to be grilled or baked in a pan with a little water and seasoning. Probably won't do that again with a thin cut steak like that.

Next we tried burgers, and that turned out OK. I wasn't so disapointed in those. It did drain alot of fat out of the burgers, but cooked six large Angus burgers pretty fast. It cleaned up pretty easy that time as well - though I understand that the steak was a bigger mess to clean up after (my lovely wife did it). Anyhow, I think this is probably best used for chicken, and burgers and maybe fish or peppers or stuff like that. Will have to play around with it to see.

I know they were designed to appeal to folks on a low fat diet - and I understand that in low carb diets like Atkins animal fats are actually not bad for you, they actually satisfy your hunger and your body uses it. So that isn't my line of thinking here. This is mainly another way to cook fast and easy for our family, and make low carb cooking something that is more manageable and comfortable for our family and my wife (one of the big complaints here, right after how exepensive it is).

So anyhow, I am glad to be in 330-land! I am now comfortably wearing 56 waist size pants with no strains. Started out at size 60's. I am almost in a size 19 neck shirt (it's a little tight but I *COULD* button them) and I started out in size 22 neck shirts. The wardrobe is going to need improvements. I have been sinching up larger pants to the point that they are starting to sag under the belt loops (as there are inches of extra material), and really need to move into smaller sizes. I am fitting in slacks and suits and other clothes that have been put up for several years now. That is a great feeling!!

Thanks for stopping by, and I really appreciate all the positive comments from my low-carb friends out there!!! I love this virtual internet connected community of friends!

4 comments:

Amy Dungan said...

Congrats on seeing a new set of numbers!! I have the large Foreman grill and love it. It just takes some time figuring out what works and what doesn't with it.

Alcinda (Cindy) Moore said...

Great job on your loss!!!

Enjoy your grille!

Calianna said...

Whoohoo! You're making fantastic progress!

I have a Georgie too - seldom use it except for burgers, although I occasionally bacon in it (talk about being too thin for the cooking surfaces), simply for the convenience of being able to cook the entire package at once (well, 4 slices at a time, since that's all that will fit) without essentially deep frying successive batches in all the fat that cooks out of it.

I may just have to try it for cooking chicken thighs though - It would have do a better job with the skin than the crock pot does!

Arthur_of_Old said...

Good job! Keep it up. =-) Soon you'll be a size 38, slim and trim ready for life!